Featuring the Karma Refugees

This Wiki article speaks of the technique of editing 8mm, 16mm film together. Much of the footage of the film was shot with 8mm home-movie cameras. Also, I include this article because it give the extensive rock and roll soundtrack—to the film and to the lives of these skateboarders.

Benjamin, “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire.” The is one of the most challenging pieces I have ever read. It deals with memory, the shock of “the urban masses,” and ultimately with the prospect of our lives unfolding amidst the ruins we have created. I will summarize it in class but it emphasizes Benjamin’s concept of “ruin” or “fragment.”

Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” Benjamin’s final work, scratched on random scraps of paper as he was fleeing the Nazis. These “theses” were then given to his friend, Hannah Arendt, who got them out of Europe and got them published.